This disclosure relates to a gas turbine engine vane arrangement, for example, in a turbine section. More particularly, the disclosure relates to a ring used to secure circumferentially arranged vanes to one another in, for example, a mid-turbine frame.
Gas turbine engines typically include a compressor section, a combustor section and a turbine section. During operation, air is pressurized in the compressor section and is mixed with fuel and burned in the combustor section to generate hot combustion gases. The hot combustion gases are communicated through the turbine section, which extracts energy from the hot combustion gases to power the compressor section and other gas turbine engine loads.
Both the compressor and turbine sections may include alternating series of rotating blades and stationary vanes that extend into the core flow path of the gas turbine engine. For example, in the turbine section, turbine blades rotate and extract energy from the hot combustion gases that are communicated along the core flow path of the gas turbine engine. The turbine vanes, which generally do not rotate, guide the airflow and prepare it for the next set of blades.
A mid-turbine frame is arranged axially between high and low turbine sections. One type of mid-turbine frame uses discrete vanes secured circumferentially to one another to provide an integral annular vane pack. The vane pack is reinforced using multiple rings secured to the vanes. An edge of the vane pack is disposed within a pocket of rotating blades of an adjacent turbine stage to provide a seal at the inner flow path. The reinforcement ring at this location is spaced from and outside of the pocket.